Accepting drug work
Accepting drug work is social work with drug users in which the focus is not on weaning the addict but on improving their living situation while accepting drug use at the same time. A controversial element of this conception is drug consumption rooms for heroin addicts , which exist in some large cities.
Basics and delimitation
The traditional, abstinence-oriented drug work is based on an approach that traces the drug problem primarily back to the effects of so-called legal and illegal drugs as well as to the psycho- and sociopathological personalities of the users. As an alternative to this, an approach has been developed in which the causes are primarily seen in the criminalization of the consumer and the resulting problems. Traditional drug help uses the image of a linear dependency model and the associated idea of increased psychological stress as the basis of motivation for an abstinent lifestyle. The acceptance-oriented work approach is based on the observation that there are no identical drogal-biographical development processes. Drug users are therefore not viewed as ill per se and in need of treatment, but are given responsibility and competence to act. The acceptance-oriented approach gives the problem definition power back to those affected, so that the users do not remain objects of professional, curative (social) educational support measures, but are perceived as personalities with a right to self-determination - even if they are in favor of drug use and deviate from the norm Decide lifestyles. The professional support is therefore based on the principle acceptance that feelings of elation as a result of drug use are legitimate, and that it is not about converting or curing the users to abstinence.
Objectives
The most pressing goal of accepting drug work is expressly not abstinence. Drug users have a right to human dignity even if they do not want to or cannot give up their drug use. Acceptance-oriented drug work does not aim to restrict or abolish drug-free offers of help, but is understood as an expansion of the range of offers in order to take into account the heterogeneity of the drug consumption phenomenon. It pursues the goal of normalizing and improving the living conditions of consumers in order to minimize the level of suffering, regardless of the motivation to quit or abstain. Drug users should be given the opportunity to develop decent life prospects in a self-determined manner , both through help for self-help and through subject-related, needs-oriented support offers. In order to ensure needs orientation and proximity to the environment, the competence of those affected is cooperatively included in the development of the offer. At a higher level, the main goal is to actively participate in the shaping of drug policy with the goals of decriminalization , respect for the human dignity of drug users and renouncing the assumption of a fundamental need for treatment.
implementation
The main idea of acceptance is implemented most sustainably in life-style, outreach approaches and low- threshold , facility-related offers that can now be found in many larger cities. Examples of this include street work, contact shops, emergency sleeping places, drug consumption rooms and peer group projects.
Street work
Street work is a form of psychosocial or health-related work that is anchored in the target group's everyday life. The field of activity of outreach street workers is not limited to the area known in everyday language as the street, but can include all public, semi-public and private areas of life of the target groups. The main focus of street work is advice, support in dealing with authorities, looking for work and accommodation as well as drug and AIDS prevention ; Supplementary, if necessary, the further care of target group members in so-called background facilities (e.g. downstream facilities of basic care or in clinics and prisons).
Contact stores
A contact shop is a kind of café that caters to users of legal and illegal drugs. Offers withdraw from practical everyday aids ( syringe exchange and syringe exchange, safer use consultancy, care services in nutrition and personal care, outpatient wound care), have offers psychosocial (discussions in the informal setting, crisis intervention , goal-based counseling) to offer in the field of Self-help (conveying alternative conflict strategies, involving consumers in the organization of the facility, conveying all kinds of information).
Emergency sleeping places
An emergency shelter offers homeless users of illegal drugs a place to sleep. In addition, the offer includes the opportunity for regular nutrition and hygiene, the monitoring of vital functions by means of regular tours, syringe exchange and safer use advice, support and mediation.
Drug consumption rooms
In some cities there is a facility for injecting drugs in a room under the supervision of medical staff. The offer makes it possible to consume fresh utensils under hygienic conditions and without stress, thus preventing the transmission of diseases and being able to intervene medically in the event of any overdoses.
Peer projects
There are so-called peer projects in Berlin ( Eclipse , Eve & Rave , Autonomous Drug Information Stand), Leipzig (Drug Scouts) and Frankfurt (Alice Project). The focus of their work is educational and advisory work at parties, larger music events, but also in schools. The offers are tailored to the needs of the relevant youth cultures. Information about the various substances and safer use advice is provided, on-site counseling sessions are held and, if necessary, referred to further drug counseling centers. In addition, condoms, ear plugs, and vitamin and mineral tablets are distributed free of charge, and first aid measures are carried out. Often their employees are the only point of reference especially for young people with problematic consumption patterns. The scene-based concept with regard to the party scene corresponds to the "lifestyle approach" emphasized by the Federal Ministry of Health (Germany) (BMG): With the lifestyle approach, the inclusion of the everyday or subcultural context of the addressees came to the fore. Regardless of a risk or potential for addiction, target groups are differentiated according to their different living environments, ways or styles, taking into account the respective stress or protective factors, rituals of consumption, symbolic meanings of substances, social networks or risk competencies.
literature
- Wolfgang Schneider: Guidelines for acceptance-oriented drug aid and humane drug policy. 1995.
- Ralf Gerlach, Stefan Engemann: On the basic understanding of acceptance-oriented drug work. 1995, OCLC 76558890 .
- Social Office of the City of Zurich: Concept of contact points for drug addicts . 1988.
- W. Steffan: Street work in the drug scene . Freiburg 1988, ISBN 3-7841-0409-6 .
- H. Stöver (Ed.): Accepting drug work - An interim balance. Lambertus, Freiburg 1999, ISBN 3-7841-1142-4 .
- Wolfgang Schneider, Ralf Gerlach (Hrsg.): DrogenLeben. Balance sheet and future visions of acceptance-oriented drug help and drug policy. Verlag Wissenschaft und Bildung, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-86135-249-4 .
Web links
- accept eV Federal association for accepting drug work and humane drug policy
- Federal Association of Parents and Relatives for Accepting Drug Work
- ProSD - Self-understanding project on drug use
- Alternative drug and addiction report 2014 , published by accept eV Federal Association for Accepting Drug Work and Humane Drug Policy , Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe eV and JES-Bundesverband eV , accessed on October 15, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stöver in Herwig-Lempp, J .: From addiction to self-determination. Drug users as subjects. Dortmund 1994
- ↑ a b Eclipse - Association for accepting drug work and psychedelic crisis intervention.
- ↑ BMG: “Action Plan Drugs and Addiction”, November 2003.